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Marc Lamont Hill on the Joe Williams Controversy: ‘There has to be space for conversation’

One subject Marc Lamont Hill is not afraid to talk about is race, even if that means getting into some trouble. The TV commentator was fired from Fox News in 2009 for sympathizing with such figures as Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal, though that has not steered him away from the hot-button issue. So, when Mediabistro asked him about the recent scandal surrounding Joe Williams, Hill defended the ex-Politico reporter and his rights to voice his opinions, regardless of how controversial they may be.

“I’m very protective of people’s rights to say what they want to say, even if they disagree,” he said. “We must engage each other and ideas, even the unpopular ones that make us uncomfortable. On top of that, we have to determine what’s true, because sometimes things that may feel culturally untoward are still right, and we just have to deal with some uncomfortable truths. When it comes to this race talk stuff, people get real uneasy. They’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t really like talking about race.’ But we have to.”